CSBR

One Day One Struggle! 2023

On November 9th, a global chorus rises in celebration of sexual and bodily rights as human rights. This year, the One Day One Struggle! campaign, led by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR), united communities around the world. We proudly supported four dynamic member organisations: Asosiasi LBH APIK Indonesia and Qbukatabu; Forum for Dignity Initiatives (FDI), advocates for sexual and bodily rights in Pakistan; and Kaos GL, a leading voice for LGBTQ+ rights in Turkey.

From Indonesia to Pakistan and Turkey, these organisations brought the spirit of One Day One Struggle! to life through diverse and impactful initiatives. Stay inspired by these stories and join the movement for sexual and bodily rights for all. Visit the CSBR social media pages to learn more and discover how you can contribute.

Pathchola Foundation – Bangladesh

Pathchola organised an online workshop, “Breaking Barriers: Empowering Youth through Transgender Sensitization in the Digital Age,” on Monday, November 27, 2023, via Google Meet regarding One Day One Struggle (ODOS) in the month of November. This workshop was held for support to Global Campaign One Day One Struggle #ODOS2023.

A total of 37 participants from Government Organization, NGO, Local Level and youth community attended the workshop. The workshop aimed to raise awareness about the challenges faced by the transgender community and to discuss ways to empower them through digital literacy and sensitization.

Asosiasi LBH APIK Indonesia – Indonesia

Asosiasi LBH APIK Indonesia has arranged an Instagram Live online discussion entitled “From Morals, Culture, Religion, to the State: The Situation of the Fulfillment of Rights Access to Safe Abortion for Women in Indonesia”. The discussion was held to celebrate the ODOS campaign together with the opening of 16 days of anti-violence against women campaign, by inviting three speakers from a SHR expert, a legal assistant for victims of sexual violence, and a Moslem religious expert.

The 1.5 hours Live IG discussed the current situation of access to safe abortion in Indonesia with various obstacles both from religious, cultural aspects and legal instruments that still hasn’t yet accommodated the needs of women and people with the capacity to become pregnant. Currently, abortion regulations in Indonesia can only be provided to: (1) victims of sexual violence up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and (2) pregnancy which has medical emergencies. Meanwhile, the absence of implementing regulations that regulate the technical implementation of safe abortion makes safe abortion to those two specific conditions still inaccessible.

They also produced two short videos highlighting the speaker’s key statements. The recorded discussion can be accessed here, and the bilingual short videos can be accessed on Youtube.

Through the safe abortion access campaign, the LBH APIK Indonesia Association aims to: (1) raise public awareness regarding safe abortion belongs to sexual and reproductive health right, (2) breaking the stigmas and discriminations aimed at women and people with the capacity to become pregnant regarding abortion, (3) encourage and invite the public to jointly monitor the technical regulations of the Health Law 17/2023.

Qbukatabu – Indonesia

To observe ODOS 2023 campaign, Qbukatabu brought the conversation about Feminist Queer Artists: Resistance and Resilience. A number of feminist queer artists voiced out their work, struggle and hopes in future in doing artivism in the format of video. We hope this video can inspire others who also have to deal with everyday resistance because of their bodies, sexuality, gender identity and self-expression to persistence and to be resilience. They also produced and published short videos in YouTube Channel & Instagram Reels a short video that contain basic information regarding ODOS campaign. They would also upload a compilation short videos from Feminist Queer artists regarding artivism to promote sexual & bodily rights. The latter video would consist of thoughts and experiences from up to 8 feminist & Feminists Queer artists regarding their works & journey in the respective fields.

Forum for Dignity Initiatives (FDI) – Pakistan

FDI arranged a study circle to support an important and timely initiative aimed at addressing the intersections of climate change, women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and the deficiency of gender-responsive policies. The One Day One Struggle Campaign would provide the perfect opportunity for FDI to organize a study circle with university students on the implications of climate change on women’s bodily autonomy, sexual and reproductive health, and rights. The study circle aimed to raise awareness by educating students and the community about the linkages between climate change and women’s SRHR, shedding light on the vulnerabilities and challenges women face. It also facilitated research on this critical intersection, identifying specific issues, and solutions that can inform policy changes. Develop a clear advocacy strategy to promote gender-responsive policies at the local, national, and international levels. The ultimate goal is to build a community of engaged individuals advocating for gender-sensitive climate policies by encouraging dialogue to better understand the intersectionality of sexual and reproductive health and rights and climate change and through actionable research findings to advocate for gender-responsive policies.

Kaos GL – Turkey

The ODOS 2023 was organized by Kaos GL Association in 9 November 2023. This year, in parallel with the global economic crisis after Covid-19 pandemic and its subjective effects of different societies was brought to the agenda. In this framework, the theme of the event was “+” is not always positive. Between sur-plus exploitation and sur-plus potentiality.

CSBR CSBR Activities

Call for Applications: CSBR Coordinator

As the coordination of CSBR moves to GAYa NUSANTARA Foundation (GN), we are now calling for applications for the post of Coordinator hosted by GN in Surabaya, Indonesia.

Please consider applying for the position, or spread the word among your networks. A terms of reference (ToR) is listed below.

Applicants should send an email to sexbodyrights@gmail.com by Tuesday, 10 February 2015, attaching the following:

An essay (max. 1,000 words) explaining why they are interested in the position and what they can bring into CSBR work in the future;
A recent CV (please make sure it contains information relevant to the requirements laid out in the ToR);
A recent passport-size photograph (electronic file);
Two letters of recommendation from previous employers.

Short-listed candidates will be interviewed by telephone or Skype. Questions of remuneration will be discussed then.

CSBR COORDINATOR – TERMS OF REFERENCE

BACKGROUND

The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR) is an international solidarity network of NGO representatives, academics and researchers advocating for sexual and bodily rights as human rights in Muslim societies. Its scope of work covers the Middle East, North Africa, and South and Southeast Asia. CSBR is governed by a General Assembluy of our member organizations, through an Advisory Council. The day-to-day work is carried out by a Coordinator, hosted at an elected member organization. Starting from 1 January 2015, the Coordinating Office is hosted by GAYa NUSANTARA Foundation in Surabaya, Indonesia.

ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES

• Working in consultation with the team, ensure effective coordination and implementation of the work

• Act as the focal point with member organizations, and other relevant actors

• Facilitate collaborative processes with diverse partners

• Facilitate communication among member organizations; and documentation of meetings and events

• Initiate and coordinate advocacy initiatives or influence strategies

• Initiate and coordinate activities for campaigns, meetings, and researches

• Facilitate the sharing of critical resources about the CSBR and its work with all member organizations, as well as the public, media and governments

• Assist in the development of campaigns

• Handle logistics for planned events

• Write the content of a variety of communication material (press release, flyer, statement, online post, etc.)

REQUIREMENTS

• Passion for women’s rights, human rights, equality and justice; demonstrated commitment to human rights issues in general, and sexual and bodily rights in particular

• Experience in playing a lead role in developing and implementing a campaign/s, experience in working with a coalition or network

• Excellent and proven communication and interpersonal skills with a wide variety of multi-cultural, multi-lingual groups and actors

• Ability to work as part of a multi-cultural team, and independently.

• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills

• Strong writing and editing skills; keen attention to detail

• Proficiency in Office applications and experience with online communications and social media

• Strong organizational skills

• Ability to multi-task

• Minimum bachelor’s degree in social sciences, human rights, international relations, communication, journalism, public administration or other related field

JOB CONDITIONS

• Based in Surabaya, Indonesia

• This position requires some traveling

• Start Date: Immediately

CSBR CSBR Activities, News from Member Organizations, ODOS

6th CSBR “One Day, One Struggle”

November 9 2014 marks the 6th annual celebration of One Day, One Struggle. This time, every year, CSBR member organizations join forces to campaign locally and globally for sexual and bodily rights. Events will be happening around the world over the coming week, here are some:

Tunisia

Association Tunisienne des Femmes Democrates (ATFD) is launching a campaign to repeal article 227 bis of the plenal code and which allows a minor to marry her rapist.

Turkey

Women for Women’s Human Rights – New Ways, KAOS GL, and LambdaIstanbul are reading the Istanbul Convention through the lens of its emphasis on sexual and bodily rights. A series of informative and inspiring infographics and caps are distributed online and offline to highlight the importance of The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (a.k.a. Istanbul Convention) in the fields of sexual and bodily rights. The information is available in English and Turkish.

Bangladesh

The Centre for Gender, Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, housed at the James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University are screening a 20 minute clip from Fauzia Khans film, “Je Golper Shesh Nei” on Sunday, November 9, 2014. The rest of the event will be an open discussion on what sexual bodily rights means in Bangladesh with questions to:

Neda Shakiba, Head of Student Affairs, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh
Joya Sikder, leader of the Sex workers union of Bangladesh
Tanvir Alim, Representative, Boys of Bangladesh
Naomi Mirza, Medical consultant, Maya.com.bd
Farhin S Kabir, Representative, Shombob (Bangladesh’s first LBT Rights Advocacy Organization)

Indonesia

GAYa NUSANTARA and the C2O Library are screening “Lovely Man.”

Pakistan

Aahung, SPARC & Madadgar are organizing an awareness raising session for parents and teachers on Child Sexual Abuse in a school for the underprivileged children.

Drag It to the Top is hosting a series of workshops on bodily rights and human rights starting in Lahore in November 2014. The first workshop will be held at the Institute of Peace & Secular Studies (IPSS) in Lahore. The aim of the 2-hour workshop is to create comfortable safe spaces for expression and dialogues leading up to body acceptance, body positive and fat-positive attitudes. The workshop will be moderated by Hadi Hussain and Aisha Haleem. A human rights activist, Hadi is one of the founding members of the Organization for the Protection & Propagation of Rights of Sexual Minorities (OPPRSM) and teaches women and gender studies at a public sector university in Lahore. Aisha, also a human rights activist is another founding member of OPPRSM and a well-known motivational speaker. Aisha manages business processes for US consultancy firm isiFederal. The event is admitting and registering participants by invitation-only. The program entails a mix-and- match of interactive discussions and activities focused on understanding body politics of daily life. Drag It to the Top administrators will also be live tweeting key messages exchanged amongst the moderators and participants of the workshop under the #JHIH hashtag which expands to Jismani Haqooq, Insani Haqooq (Bodily Rights, Human Rights). Anyone on Twitter can join the conversation by including the #JHIH hashtag. A short documentary-film, “That’s What She Said,” will also be screened during the workshop.

Malaysia

Women’s Aid Organization and Sisters in Islam are kicking off the campaign at 10am until 9pm on 9 November 2014. Follow @SistersInIslam and @womensaidorg on Twitter (if you haven’t already), #SBR4ALL, #WhySexEd, #EndChildMarriage, #abortionmyths, and #sexbodyrights. You may also follow Sisters In Islam on Facebook.

Let’s work together and get as many people involved in our fight for Sexual and Bodily Rights for all!

For more information on each event, write to coordinator@csbronline.org and follow @sexbodyrights.

Keep checking in for more announcements!

CSBR Statements

International: Open letter to President of the Human Rights Council Regarding Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

Ms. Laura Dupuy Laserre
President of the Human Rights Council
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Your Excellency,

We, the international solidarity network Women Living Under Muslim Laws, the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies, the Violence is Not Our Culture International Campaign, the Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition, and the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights are writing to express our appreciation for your support and leadership in hosting the upcoming panel at the UN Human Rights Council on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.

The spirit of the UDHR is instrumental to our advocacy efforts, and it is our understanding that the authors and signatories of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) recognized the need to protect against all forms of discrimination, regardless of “status,” including statuses that had not been articulated or officially recognized at the time. This includes sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI).

We note that discrimination on the basis of SOGI can and has been used to deny fundamental rights that are guaranteed to all individuals under international law. This includes not only the UDHR, but also Articles 17 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Articles 8 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, Articles 2, 4, and 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, as well as the indivisible and connected rights guaranteed by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

We look forward to the opportunity to discuss and strengthen these mechanisms, which exist to protect and promote human rights for all globally.

As a transnational network working to promote the rights of women and minorities whose lives are governed by laws said to be derived from Islam (WLUML), a coalition working for the protection of sexual and bodily rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR), an international campaign against culturally justified violence against women (VNC), as well as a global network working to promote sexual and reproductive rights (WGNRR), we also express our concern at the position of the OIC on sexual orientation and gender identity. We feel strongly that creating a dialogue and open discussion on the issues of sexual orientation and gender identity is essential to the full promotion of the principles set forth in the UDHR.

We affirm the need to bear diverse religious and cultural backgrounds in mind stated in the Vienna Declaration, but we are increasingly concerned that the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) is passing from the principle that religion must be “borne in mind” with regard to human rights, to making supreme a single interpretation of religion in international laws. We find this contrary to the spirit of the UDHR, especially Article 18, which affirms the beliefs of numerous Muslim scholars and practitioners who find no contradiction between their understandings of Islam and the existence of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. Similarly, scholars and practicing Muslims the world over have recognized that gender equality and women’s rights are not incompatible with Islam.

We note that Pakistan, an OIC member state which voted for and re-affirmed its commitment to the UDHR at several UN meetings, recognises the rights of diverse orientations and identities. We appreciate the Pakistani Supreme Court’s ground-breaking ruling on 23 December 2009, invoking the spirit of the UDHR, which mandated that hijras be officially recognized as a third gender on national identity cards and resulted in a commission to protect the full exercise of their rights, including access to education, inheritance, and more. Regrettably, the government of Pakistan has moved extremely slowly in implementation.

We look forward to the panel, and offer our full support in promoting the discussions and results that come out of this important initiative.

Sincerely,

Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML)
The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR)
Violence is Not Our Culture (VNC)
Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR)

CSBR CSBR Activities

Let’s Create the Logo of CSBR!

It is with a lot of excitement that we announce this competition among the coalition’s Member Organizations to design the logo of CSBR. As you know, CSBR is now on Facebook and Twitter, and to strengthen the coalition’s online presence, we need a vibrant logo.

We invite you to disseminate this call widely within your organizations (staff, members, volunteers, supporters) along with the competition guidelines. Submissions will be shortlisted by the CSBR Coordinating Team and sent out to Member Organizations who will then vote for their favorite design.

We look forward to receiving your designs!

Entries will be accepted until March 25th 2012.

CSBR CSBR Activities, News from Member Organizations, News on Sexual & Bodily Rights, ODOS

One Day, One Struggle around the World!

Today, November 9, 2011 marks the 3rd annual celebration of One Day, One Struggle. This time, every year, CSBR member organizations join forces to campaign locally and globally for sexual and bodily rights. Events will be happening around the world over the coming week, here are some:

MORE UPDATES COMING AS WE RECEIVE THEM!

MALAYSIA

You can also read the statement by Women’s Aid Organization in solidarity with the campaign.

PAKISTAN

Rutgers WPF have launched a survey with special focus to the issues faced by transgenders in Pakistan. Fourth question of the poll refers to the recently released Pakistani famous Movie “BOL” which highlights different Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights issues with the context of Muslim families living in Pakistan.

Rutgers will share the results of the poll on 10^th December 2011 on the commemoration of International Human Rights Day.

LEBANON

Nasawiya in Lebanon are organizing around the theme of marital rape, which has recently caused controversy during the campaign to Protect Women from Family Violence. Marital rape is exempted from bring considered criminal in the Lebanese Penal Code and women’s movements are calling for its criminalization.

A conference with interactive theater and public forum will take place on Tuesday, November 15 on the theme of marital rape and you can watch the video prepared by the group, gauging out the public’s reactions to the campaign below (in Arabic):

The Lebanese Society of ObGyn will also be holding a session on sexual pleasure deconstruction from a biomedical perspective on November 17.

PHILIPPINES

In Davao City, PILIPINA Legal Resources Center organized a Human Rights Policy Forum on LGBT Rights with a panel discussion and policy recommendations. The event brought together sociologists, researchers, writers, activists, and city councilors. PILIPINA Legal Resources Center worked to connect the LGBT community with local city legislators, academe, women’s movement, the press in order to intellectually discuss the proposed Anti Discrimination Bill Of Davao City Legislative Council which does not have a section on LGBT rights.

Isabelita Solamo-Antonio writes about the issue in Womenwise: LGBT (Lesbians, Gay, Bi-sexuals & Transgenders) Rights Are Human Rights. Check out the Facebook photo album here!

INDONESIA

Organizations in Indonesia marked ODOS with 2 days of events under the theme “My Body, My Rights : No Health Without Rights.” The occasion brought together several NGOs, academic institutions and AIDS Commission at province level (Government Organization). The Organizations that joined the events are Dipayoni (Lesbian organization), Savy Amira (Women Crisis Center), Bhinneka (Religion and pluralism organization), AIDS Commission (Government organization), and Study Center for Human Rights- Surabaya University, Study center for gender and Health- Psychology Faculty-Surabaya University.

CSBR CSBR Activities, Headline, ODOS

One Day, One Struggle 2011

This November 11^th marks the 3^rd year of the One Day One Struggle (ODOS) campaign. ODOS is an international campaign taking place in 12 countries across the Middle East, North Africa, South and Southeast Asia to promote sexual and bodily rights in Muslim societies and across the Arab world. Member organizations of the Coalition of Sexual and Bodily Rights (CSBR) will be carrying out these activities in their prospective countries. Keep an eye out for this year’s activities by the member organizations of CSBR.